Billionaire Ray Dalio Likes to Invest in High Dividend Stocks; Should You Follow Him?

Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) also made the list, being one of Mr. Dalio’s top picks and sporting a dividend yield of 3.33%. Similar to many of its peers from the energy sector, the slump in commodity prices did not leave Suncor Energy unaffected as its stock has lost over 17% year-to-date. However, Mr. Dalio seems to be betting on the rebound of the oil & gas company as he more than doubled his position in Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) between April and June to 849,800 shares. Overall, smart money investors are more cautious towards Suncor as 32 funds from our database held less than 3% of the company’s shares at the end of June. Another billionaire that is betting on Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) is Warren Buffett, whose holding company Berkshire Hathaway owns 22.35 million shares of the company as of the end of the second quarter.

In Centurylink Inc (NYSE:CTL), Mr. Dalio also more than doubled his exposure, to 685,500 shares. The company pays a dividend of $0.54 per share and the 35% decline of the stock since the beginning of 2015 has driven its dividend yield to 8.52%, which is one of the highest in the telecom industry. Among other investors, Centurylink Inc (NYSE:CTL) gained some popularity during the second quarter, as the number of funds with long positions went up to 31 from 26, though the aggregate value of their holdings slumped to $279.79 million from $384.85 million and accounted for only 1.70% of the company’s outstanding stock at the end of June. Among these funds, Bridgewater holds the third-largest stake in Centurylink Inc (NYSE:CTL), trailing Peter Muller’s PDT Capital on the first spot with 1.15 million shares and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, which holds 941,400 shares.

Mr. Dalio’s fifth dividend pick is ENSCO PLC (NYSE:ESV), whose stock has a yield of 4.14%, but in which the investor cut his position by 20% over the quarter to 845,300 shares. As another oil & gas company, ENSCO’s stock has lost over 65% year-to-date and lower revenues prompted the company to cut its dividend to $0.15 from $0.75 earlier this year. During the second quarter, the number of investors with long positions in ENSCO PLC (NYSE:ESV) among those we track slid by four to 22, though the aggregate value of these funds’ holdings appreciated to $405.87 million from $336.88 million and totaled 7.80% of the company’s worth at the end of June. Partly the growth of the aggregate value of holdings can be attributed to the 6.4% gains registered by ENSCO PLC (NYSE:ESV)’s stock during the period, but also, many of the top shareholders boosted their positions during the trimester. Among them, Joe Huber’s Huber Capital Management edged up its holding by 15% to 4.43 million shares and ranked as the largest shareholder, followed by Phil Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, which increased its stake by 270% to 4.31 million shares.

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